The Lessons of a Slytherin
by oliver3502
Summary: Harry Potter is, at the age of 10, thrown 1000 years into the past somewhere in Scotland. There he studies until the age 21 when he decides to return to his age and teach at Hogwarts. - Summary inside - Mild Abuse, Slightly Dark!Harry, Slytherin!Harry, Time-travel, AU, Teacher!Harry, Pureblood!Harry, Heir to Slytherin, Powerfull!Harry, Wandless Magic.
1. Chapter 1: As time turns

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise; That all belongs to JK Rowling and various other people. I don't earn a dime off of this. If you recognize it, it isn't mine. We all get inspired, both from published authors and from other FF-writers, but I won't try to name them, as they also got inspired from somewhere.

 **A/N:** I'm not a native English speaker, and my English will therefore not be perfect. I do, however, know the difference between your and you're. If you see any mistakes that rub you the wrong way, please send me a PM. I am still at school, meaning that this is a sort of secondary hobby and that I am by no means a talented or experienced writer, so a beta would be appreciated. If I for some reason decides that I do not have the time or motivation to continue this fic, then I will let someone else continue in the case this actually gets a decent amount of followers.

 **Summary:** Harry Potter was thought to have been killed by his abusive aunt and uncle. Instead, he had somehow ended up a thousand years in the past a seemingly random place in Scotland. After being taught more magic than most even knew about, he decides to return to the era he left. The only problem being he now is 21 years old instead of 10 and doesn't even look the slightest alike to when he left. In a confusing and very different age, he looks towards what he is truly comfortable with; Hogwarts.

 **Tags:** Mild Abuse, Slightly Dark!Harry, Slytherin!Harry, Time-travel, AU, Teacher!Harry, Pureblood!Harry, Heir to Slytherin, Powerfull!Harry, Wandless Magic.

* * *

 **Chapter 1:** _As time turns_

As Harry woke up that morning, he felt sore. He had felt like this quite a few times in his relatively short life. The day before had, as usual, been spend doing gardening, cooking, cleaning, laundering, car-washing and various other chores activities around the house. He had been trying his best to do a proper job of all of his duties, but still ended up missing a number of chores. This had resulted in him being thrown into his room, if you could call a broom closet that, and going to bed without food.

His uncle did not hit him that much - just a few smacks, when he got especially infuriated, but never more than that. Therefore, Harry never told anyone as it would only cause trouble for him. It was not as if he couldn't take a slap or two once in a while.

All of this was simply the daily routines of the 10, soon to be 11, year old boy. He had just gone on summer holiday from school, not that it involved much holidaying for him, and spent his, albeit scarce, free time reading various books.

From the age of six, Harry had noticed that whenever he needed something very much, he would _magically_ get it, be it for his hair to grow out again or for him to escape his cousin and his friends.

Harry was a _very_ smart boy, no matter how much his aunt and uncle tried to suppress that fact, and had quickly figured out that the _happenings_ that tended to evolve around him in times of need weren't anywhere near normal. With that in mind, he started to research if anyone else had this happen to them. The simple answer was no; at least outside the realm of fiction.

Today was Dudley's birthday. For Harry that had meant preparing a pompous breakfast, before the Dursleys headed off to the zoo with Dudley's friends. Meanwhile, Harry was going to stay at Mrs. Figg, most likely spending his day at the library in yet another research session. This did, in fact, turn out to be the case and, therefore, as he walked towards the Dursleys' house, the last thing he expected was bumping into a weird looking man, arms full of piles of paper and various strange looking things and clad in long robes. Before Harry could even voice an apology, he was interrupted. "Harry Potter?" The strange man before him had muttered out in disbelief. This caught Harry off guard, as he wondered, ' _How can this stranger know my name?'_ Atlas he managed to get out a questioning "Yes?"

"Oh, it is truly an honor to meet you, sir." The stranger said, joy visible in his eyes,

"Ehm okay… How so?" Harry now intriguingly questioned.

"What do you mean 'How so'? Surely your greatest achievement is still the defeat of you-know-who, or what?" The still not introduced man asked in a combination of doubt and excitement at what would hopefully be a fantastic tale.

"Have we meet or something, as you seem to know me while I can't say the same about you?"

"Oh I'm so sorry; Dingerus Babbleton's the name, and of course who don't know you? I mean even from birth, the children are told of your stories."

At this, Harry started to wonder what in God's name this man was rambling about.

"Are you sure you're not confusing me with someone else, Mr. Babbleton?"

"No. How could I with that scar of yours?" He asked becoming more confused by the second

With that, it became too much for Harry. ' _Is he delusional or something or is this all some kind of prank?'_ Just as Mr. Babbleton started to open his mouth, Harry interrupted him, "I'm sorry sir, but I have to leave now," before hurrying home.

Although before he had taken more than a few steps, Mr. Babbleton tried to free his one hand to shakes Harry's, resulting in him dropping his things. Harry turned around and helped him picking it all up, but just as he had picked up the last item and stood up, wanting to hand it over to Mr. Babbleton, he heard a small crack. Harry turned around trying to locate the origin of the sound, instead finding nothing. No Mr. Babbleton and none of his things, except what he was currently holding in his hands.

Harry gave the item a closer look and found it to be a small necklace with an hourglass in a circular contraption. After a while, he gave up trying to figure out what it was and stuffed it in his pocket. He headed home and as he walked through the door, he was stunned to see a furious looking Vernon Dursley 'greet' him.

"You ungrateful brat! What are you doing, forgetting to be here when you were supposed to! You should have made dinner, but oh no, you absolutely had to ruin Dudder's birthday, didn't you. I'll make sure you're not going to get any food - you're going straight to bed you useless waste-of-breath!"

At this point, Vernon had a dangerous purple color on his face, as he threw Harry through the door and into the closet. Slamming the door shut and locking it from the outside, he turned to leave when he was blown own his feet by a blue flash originating from Harry's room. He pulled the door open, only to find nothing. No Harry and no other way out.

* * *

 **A/N:** A


	2. Chapter 2: A field in Scotland

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise; That all belongs to JK Rowling and various other people. I don't earn a dime off of this. If you recognize it, it isn't mine. We all get inspired, both from published authors and from other FF-writers, but I won't try to name them all, as they also got inspired from somewhere.

 **A/N:** I've just **updated Chapter 1** , seeing as Harry was a bit too powerful for my liking, but don't worry, he'll learn his wandless magic later. Normally the updates will be taking some time - this isn't my first priority, but as I have a bit of vacation for the next week or so, I'll be able to write more than usual.

* * *

 **Chapter 2:** _A field in Scotland_

As he awoke, he tried to open his eyes. _'Not a good idea!'_ Harry felt like throwing up. He was trying to stand up only to collapse onto the ground again. Trying to think back to figure out what on earth happened just increased the throbbing headache, he was currently suffering from. Taking a deep breath, he stood to his feet and tried to look around. He was left gasping as he saw his surroundings; He stood in outskirts of a forest, able to see a small village nearby. That was, however, not what left him speechless. Overlooking the whole area was a castle of mesmerizing proportions. Build in a way eerily similar to those fairy-tales; it looked empowering, leaving no doubt about its impregnability.

Then it hit him, _'Where am I? How did I even end up here?'_ Again trying to find his memories, he remembered Vernon yelling, then him being shoved into his room, landing on his side and then a bright blue light coming from his right pocket… _The necklace_. He stuck his hand into his pocket but ended up retracting it when cutting himself on something. Carefully he turned his pocket inside-out, finding a shattered hourglass and some still fuming dust. Not knowing what to do with it, he returned it to his pocket and tried to figure out his next steps.

He could either head to the village or go up the hill to the castle. As he was trying to decide, he felt something _pull_ him towards the castle, _telling_ him to make his way up the hill. Deciding not to second-guess yourself in a situation like his, he strode toward the castle at a steady pace. While walking, he kept trying to find out how he had come here. _'Has the Dursleys finally had enough?'_ Kept going through his head, until he stood before the imposing metal gate separating the castle's grounds from the fields he had just come from.

Carefully eying the gate, he saw a small bell and pulled its strings. He took a step back and waited. After a couple of minutes, he saw a man making his way down from the castle towards the gate. As he got closer, Harry started to notice a decisively mean scowl on the man's face. The man stopped a few feet from the gate and barked out a "What?"

Not really knowing what else to do, Harry chose to try to get some answers.

"Where am I?"

"Do I look like your personal travel guide?" he snarled. After a bit of thought, he added, "What you can see behind me is the great _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_."

"Witchcraft? Wizardry? You mean like magic?"

"Yes like _magic_. What are you even doing here? Go home, child" He mockingly returned.

"I don't know how to get there," Harry added with a bit of his worry getting into his words.

"Hmph. It is starting to darken outside child, and we cannot have walking around out there all by yourself." He said with a bit more compassion.

He stepped forward, opened the gate and hushed Harry trough before closing the gate again. They walking up to the castle in complete silence, whilst Harry had hundreds of questions running through his mind. He was startled out of his thoughts, when his companion asked:

"Are your parents not going to worry about that you are missing?"

"They're dead."

"Oh."

Harry loved his parents, but as he had no real memory of them and combined with the constant teasing and mocking regarding them, he had come to terms with the fact a long time ago. As he had told himself, ' _What could he do about it?'_ They continued in silence until they arrived at the breathtaking wooden doors making the entrance to _Hogwarts_. Pushing them open with seeming ease, the man ushered inside.

"Argh McHughen. Where have you been? And who are your companion?"

Harry spun around to the person talking. In front of him was a large man with a wild ginger hair and a matching beard. His face was cracked into a wide smile and he had a welcoming feeling to his deep and warm voice. He was wearing robes similar to Mr. Babbleton and, now that he looked, so had McHughen.

"Lord Gryffindor. I went down to the gates to check, after being alerted to that there was somebody down there. I found this boy standing in front of the gates not knowing where he was or how to get home."

"Oh, I see. Yes, I think it was a fine idea bringing him here instead of having him getting lost in the dark." Now addressing Harry, he continued, "And what is your name then my boy?"

"Harry Potter, sir."

"Okay Harry, why don't I show you a room where you can sleep, and then we can discuss your situation tomorrow?"

Harry stifled a yawn.

"That sounds great, sir. Thank you for letting me sleep here."

As Lord Gryffindor walked through the torch-lid hallways, Harry looked around in pure excitement. All along the walls were countless shining armors and speaking paintings. The came to a stop, in front of a sturdy looking wooden door.

"This is to be your chambers for the night. Tomorrow, we will figure out how to tackle this predicament in which we find ourselves, but for now, just sleep Harry.

Harry needed no more motivation, and when Lord Gryffindor had closed the door Harry was already fast asleep

-xXx-

The bright light of the sun tittered through the windows, causing Harry to stir. As he woke, he heard hushed voices talking outside the door. Sitting up and grabbing his glasses, which he had put on the nearby nightstand, he looked around. The room had a warmth to it that Harry hadn't expected from somethings made of stone. The four-poster bed he had slept in was a deep red, the walls were hung with tapestries and the floor covered with a plush looking gold and red carpet. He stood up and walked over to the window. The view was simply mesmerizing. Looking over the castle grounds, he was a great lake in which the low-hanging sun reflected.

After a while, he turned around and open the door, finding three adults discussing with Lord Gryffindor. As they noticed him, they stopped talking and turned around to face him.

"Harry! Slept well?" Lord Gryffindor asked smilingly.

"Yes I did, thank you, sir."

"Now let me introduce you to me, dear friends. This is Rowena Ravenclaw, -" he said gesturing to an elegant woman, "- this is Helga Hufflepuff,-" gesturing to a woman emitting an almost motherly feeling, "- and finally this is Salazar Slytherin." At last turning around to a handsome looking man with a smirk on his face.

"Godric was just telling us about our newest occupant," Helga said smiling warmly at Harry.

"And we were all discussing how to proceed," Salazar added.

"Now why don't you tell us how you came to be here? I would wager a guess and say that your parents are quite worried by now." Godric asked.

"As I told McHughen when I arrived, my parents are dead. I live with my aunt and uncle, but they don't care if I'm gone, as long as I am home to make breakfast for them… oh… God I have got to go home! By now I'll be in the cupboard for at least a week!" Harry's voice had by now become frantic.

"Calm down, Harry." Salazar soothingly said, "Just tell us of your whole day up to and come here."

And so Harry did. It took the most of the next two hours, as Harry was continuously interrupted to explain various muggle things he didn't understand. Furthermore, all of the talk about you-know-who made no sense to the wizards either. It was first when Harry gave the rough description of a time-turner and showed them the remains of it, that Rowena realized what had happened.

"You came back through time!"

Silence.

"What year is it Harry?"

"Ehm… 1990, right?"

"… Harry we are in 993"

Harry was flabbergast. _'How do I get back? Am I stuck?!'_ Before could Harry could become anymore panicked, Salazar gave him a vial to drink. As Harry drank he started to calm down.

"What was that, sir?"

"A calming draught."

"Well it explains some of the confusion, but it still leaves us with the question of how to get you back."

"Please, sir, I don't want to go back. Could I live here? It is a school, right?"

"I suppose you could, after all we have heard about those relatives of yours, I would find it hard to send you back."

"Oh thank you so much, sir. I promise I won't be a nuisance."

"I'm sure you won't"

-xXx-

The four professors sat down in the staffroom. Harry was currently outside enjoying the weather with the caretaker, McHughen, watching over him. As the room's occupants were bathed in the light of the fireplace, they pondered. Would there be any major consequences of letting Harry stay? What if they found a way to return him? Could it wait to he was older and mature enough to handle the seemingly harsh world from which he had come?

Rowena broke the silence, "I say we study the matter and try to find a way to return him no matter what we decide."

"I think he should be the one to decide. For all I care he could stay in our world forever. If he wants to go back, he should have the choice but I will not condone forcing him back." Salazar stated with a challenging determination.

Before any of the others could voice their opinions, there was a loud knock on the door.

"Come in," Godric called out. McHughen entering looking as if he had run all the way from the ground to the staffroom, which incidentally was true.

"I think you would want to see this, professors. Especially you Lord Slytherin."

They all hurried down the stair, pushed through the large wooden doors and went to find Harry under a tree near the lake. Next to him was an 8ft snake curled up around him. While they were all watching, the snake hissed at him, but Salazar as the only of the four who could understand what it said felt his head spinning. It was seemingly discussing with Harry. That theory was confirmed, when Harry hissed back, and the rest of the professors suddenly realized what they were hearing.

"I guess that would make him _my_ heir. He will not go back less it be by his own initiative."

Salazar eyed black-haired boy fondly. _'No I'll make certain he is safe,'_ he thought to himself.

* * *

 **A/N:** Just to make it clear, this is my first fic _ever_ … and I am not a native speaker, so any and all help in both language and writing is truly appreciated. This fic will, hopefully, be balanced between a powerful Harry and a boringly OP Harry. Should that not be the case _PLEASE_ tell me. Hint: I would write more if i had a beta ;)


	3. Chapter 3: The start of something great

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise; That all belongs to JK Rowling and various other people. I don't earn a dime off of this. If you recognize it, it isn't mine. We all get inspired, both from published authors and from other FF-writers, but I won't try to name them, as they also got inspired from somewhere.

 **A/N:** Yeah… I guess you can say that, the entire thing about updating didn't really work out. Sorry. I will try to improve on that, but no promises.

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** _The start of something great_

 _ **London, 1992**_

Looking down the crowded streets of Diagon Alley, one would never guess that they were currently in London. In the midst of the busyness stood a man, clad in the most impeccable clothes one could imagine. His eyes scoured over the masses, whilst he stood and wondered about how he came to be there. That story was, in fact, one many would call amazing at best and very few believe.

-xXx-

 _ **Scotland, 996**_

The young man had been sitting for the past hour or so listening to Rowena explaining the principles of complex enchantments. Whilst it was certainly interesting, he couldn't stay focused for any longer. It had been quite a long time since he had ended up at Hogwarts. During his time there, he had changed a lot. One would never be able to recognize the young and scared boy that had found himself lost in the proud young man that stood today. This was in part due to his maturing and change in eating habits, but mostly due to an event that had begun his new life.

After his apparent affinity for snakes, Salazar had become a mentor for him, tightening their bond closer and closer. Due to the fact that Salazar claimed that parseltounge was hereditary, he had wanted to test his new charge's ancestry. It turned out that, whilst many would assume that Harry was half-blood, his mother was not truly a muggle-born. She had descended from a line of squibs out of the Slytherin line, making Harry and Salazar related. That had led Salazar to offering a blood-adoption, seeing as it was quite a faux pas of the time, to take care of a magical child, without a close relation to said child. Harry had been ecstatic to say the least. Although it meant a few changes, includes his appearance and name, as Salazar under no circumstances could have an heir with the name of Harry Potter. It had involved a simple ritual, the new name for the adopted child and some blood from both parties, resulting in a magical flash, which had knocked Harry out for a few days. After waking up, the newly named Salvius Slytherin had looked in a nearby mirror, only to see a completely unknown person look back. After a few minutes of staring, he could see some of his characteristics throughout his new looks. After that, he and Salazar had been father and son for all intents and purposes. If anyone was to look, his ancestry would show him as a pureblood, despite his mother being a muggle-born, because anything less that an advanced blood ritual, wouldn't show anyone else than Salazar as ancestor.

Salvius was pulled out of his musings by the sharp pain of a stinging hex. It would appear as if Rowena would not tolerate his lack of attention. This was confirmed by her sharp voice thundering:

"Salvius Slytherin! Don't you dare daydream in my lecture!"

"Sorry Rowena. You know how I am about long theoretical lectures." he said placatingly.

Rowena sighed and shook her head fondly.

"Why is it that only Godrick and Salazar can have your full attention for more than two hours at a time? It's not like you are any less of a prodigy in my classes."

Salvius smiled reassuringly. "You know it's not because I like your classes any less, Rowena. I can't be concentrated that long in their classes either, when it's a pure theoretical lecture."

"Well, seeing as I can't keep your attention with theory anymore, then we should do a bit of practical work. You know we have been needing a way of sorting the children into our houses, and as there have begun to come an increasing number of students, we can't get to evaluate them all by hand. Therefore, I have decided to come up with a solution, for which you are the perfect assistant. You see, if one combines the abilities of a legilimens with the mind of an enchanted object, one would have the perfect artifact for sorting the students!"

"Wouldn't that be quite intrusive? I mean it should be a doable project, but the ethics of it are sketchy at best." Salvius said apprehensively.

Rowena waved his worries away. "Oh, that could easily be fixed with a secrecy limitation in the enchantment itself."

"I guess that would be alright"

"I knew you would agree!"

And so, they began their work on a solution to their sorting problem. Most of the work was done by Salvius, both because of the practice in enchanting that it would provide, but also because he, thanks to Salazar, was a highly skilled legilimens. After a few weeks of going trough equations and ideas, his effort finally payed off. The fruit of his labor, his own pointy hat, which he didn't like very much, was now able to sort the students into the houses they best represented. To be able to communicate, he had enchanted it to speak, which, however, came with the side effect of the hat being able to sing. This was due to the fact that he had tried to change an enchantment scheme for making singing objects. By his fifth failed attempt to cure its singing tendencies, Salvius had instead limited it to making a song about the school to sing every year, which seemed to work. Satisfied with the result, he showed it to the rest of the founders.

Whilst Rowena was somewhat displeased with the unintended features of the hat, it was a very impressive magical feat. Godrick and Helga both found it amusing and was all for keeping the singing addition to the sorting ceremony. Salazar, whilst finding the singing somewhat dumb, was very proud of his son's magical prowess.

-xXx-

 _ **London, 1992**_

Salvius was startled out of his memories. Remembering what he was in Diagon Alley for in the first place, he walked towards the massive white building at the end of the street. He noticed the wealthier looking amongst the people take notice of him. Though he did not know, robes of acromantula silk had not been seen in such a mint condition for many years.

As he walked into the bank, he felt the powerful wards wash over him, signalling to any who would dare, that this was not a place to rob. He walked to the nearest goblin, waiting for him to look up. After a few seconds, the teller looked up and sighed impatiently.

"Yes? What is your business today at Gringotts, Wizard?"

Salvius, not to be fazed by the unusual rudeness of the goblin said, "I'm here to see my vault"

"And what is your name, Wizard?" the goblin said with the same irritated tone.

"You may address me as Lord Slytherin." Salvius hissed in a low voice. His patience had begun to vanish, so the highest tones had slipped into parseltounge, scaring the goblin visibly. It stammered out an apology and went to fetch a manager. Meanwhile, the people around Salvius had noticed the unusual event of a goblin apologizing and whispered between themselves.

Before Salvius had noticed those speaking about him, he was presented to an ancient looking goblin.

"My apologies for the rudeness, Lord Slytherin. It is seldom that we have costumers who view us above financial house elves. I will have a goblin lead you to your vault."

Salvius shook his apology away.

"No harm done, as long as this will not occur again."

And so, soon after he sat in a cart with a young goblin, who seemed energetic and curious about the mysterious wizard. Unable to keep himself from asking, the goblin spoke up.

"My Lord, where have you been?"

Salvius sighed amusedly. It was quite obvious that the goblin had been close to bursting with curiosity.

"I have recently returned here after being away for a long time."

Not sated the goblin continued.

"Will you return to Hogwarts then?"

To that, Salvius had no question. In fact, he had not though about it at all. Deciding to forget about it for the time, he finished his business and left Gringotts. He could not, however, get the question out of his mind. He had so many memories attached to that place, but how much would be changed? Coming to a conclusion, he disapparitied, leaving not even a crack behind.

-xXx-

Hogsmeade was still there after all these years, not that Salvius was really surprised. After all, it was a town which's fate was closely intertwined with that of Hogwarts. He looked up at the all too familiar castle.

Instead of going to the castle, he walked towards the closets tavern he could find; a dingy establishment by the name of _Hog's Head_. The interior was in an even worse state and the guests were not what one would call trustworthy, at first glance. Seeing as it was late, he needed to find a room and something to eat, so he walked over to the barkeeper. After having a conversation consisting of the bare minimum amount of words, he walked towards a table in the corner with a bowl of a soup of some kind.

By the time that he had finished eating, most of the other patriots had either left or gotten drunk. Just as Salvius was about to call it a night, he heard a conversation that caught his attention.

"I can handle a dragon just fine I'll have yeh know. I've had a cerberus fer years now, and I've never had any trouble."

"We'll let's play a game of cards then. If you win you get the egg, and if I win you'll pay for the drinks for the rest of the night"

"Deal!"

Salvius shook his head. Even though it wasn't illegal to breed dragons, or at least not a thousand years ago, it was not a matter to be decided on whilst intoxicated. Deciding to find out a bit more about the too gamblers, he sent out a legilimency probe. The hooded man with the dragon egg had some occlumency shields in place, so Salvius didn't probe deeper to avoid detection. The giant of a man, who seemed rather drunk, had no shields however. As he searched trough his mind, he found a very interesting piece of information; the previously mentioned cerberus was currently guarding a philosopher's stone at Hogwarts. Something about that stone made him want to investigate it further. He knew what it was, but for some reason he felt drawn towards it. Shaking his head, Salvius went to bed. He planned to visit Hogwarts tomorrow anyway, but now he was truly curious.


	4. Chapter 4: Amongst familiar halls

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything related to the Harry Potter franchise; That all belongs to JK Rowling and various other people. I don't earn a dime off of this. If you recognize it, it isn't mine. We all get inspired, both from published authors and from other FF-writers, but I won't try to name them, as they also got inspired from somewhere.

 **A/N:** I would say that I'm sorry for the delay, but it has become a bad habit at this point. The review and messages are what guilt-trips me into writing this, even though I have a ton of schoolwork, so keep them coming.

* * *

 **Chapter 4:** _Amongst familiar halls_

As the sun rose over the small wizarding village, most of its inhabitants still slept. Salvius had left the key to his room hanging in the door and left without more than a nod to the barkeeper. Walking outside of the inn, Salvius saw that the village hadn't changed all that much and made him feel a little more at home than Diagon Alley had.

Whilst walking along the road leading from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, Salvius thought about the previous night's events. He could not put his finger on what it was, but that philosopher's stone drew him to it in an unnatural way. In fact, his dreams that night had been filled with weird visions, some cantered around the stone, whilst others were less clear. If he hadn't made sure already that he didn't possess any abilities in the art of divination, he would have called it a vision. Deciding to ignore it for the moment, he kept walking along the path.

Soon he had made his way to the gates, signalling the entrance to Hogwarts' grounds and also being one of the only openings in the wards. He suddenly realized that he had to decide how to enter Hogwarts. As one of the five original people that were tied to the wards, he could enter the castle with no problems, but that would most likely provoke some hostile response from the current headmaster and the rest of the staff. Taking that into consideration, he knocked on the gate. After waiting for a few minutes and not seeing any response, he just opened to gates with a wave of his hand.

As soon as he crossed the wardline, he felt the wards' magic rush over him, welcoming him. At first Salvius was shocked, as the wards and the castle itself felt near-sentient, which the hadn't been at his time, but he then realised that it was the result of the many magical students who had lived inside the castle, imprinting a little of each of their magic in the wards and the castle itself.

Before he realised it, he had reached the giant doors of Hogwarts. As he got closer, the doors opened themselves and Salvius immediately felt that he was home again. It was still late morning, so the few inhabitants of the castle would most likely be in the Great Hall, having breakfast. Deciding to get the likely tense introduction out of the way, Salvius went to meet them. As the entered the Great Hall it took a few seconds before anyone noticed him, but when they did he easily gathered the attention of the whole staff. A few of them looked ready to draw their wands but were calmed somewhat by the headmaster's lack of action.

As Salvius glazed at the individual teachers and staff members, he noticed the two men that had gambled the evening before. The one who had occlumency shields looked did not hide their face this time, so it stood to reason that the larger of the two men did not know the identity of the other. He was drawn out of his musings by the headmaster speaking up.

"I should think that there would be a reason as to why a complete stranger stands in Hogwarts without me giving them permission to enter the castle and go through the wards. Would you care to elaborate?"

Salvius gave a small smile and answered:

"That would be because I'm keyed into the wards. I should be, seeing as I was part of putting most of them up myself."

The headmaster frowned but continued:

"Were you a part of some warding team, that has been working on Hogwarts in the past? Even then you should not be keyed into the wards. Why are you here then?"

"To answer your first question; no, I'm not part of a warding team. I am, however, the descendent of Salazar Slytherin, which is why I'm keyed into the wards. The next question is a bit difficult to give a simple answer to. As a descendent of the Slytherin line, I feel obligated to observe the standard of both Hogwarts itself but also those students, who bear our family name. Therefore, I would like to take up residence in the castle and maybe teach a few classes or something the sort." Salvius answered whilst looking the headmaster in his eyes. The whole room was visibly shocked by his words.

"I would think an introduction would be in order. I am Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, and who might you be?"

"I'm glad to meet you Professor Dumbledore. I'm Lord Salvius Slytherin."

Again there was silence. Especially three occupants of the room understood the real significance of the words Salvius had just uttered. Two looking shocked and curios, whilst the one who had gambled with a dragon egg looked shocked but also as if wincing from pain. Filing that information for later, he shook the headmaster's outstretched hand.

As they released each other's hands Professor Dumbledore said:

"You are, of cause, welcome to stay at Hogwarts. How could we possibly deny you entrance to the school? As to the classes, we would have to find something out, fairly quickly, as the term starts in a few days. It would also have to be an optional class outside of normal school hours, as the timetables have already been made. Would that be alright with you?"

"That would be perfectly acceptable. I assume we can decide upon the specifics later."

"Yes, that would be suitable" Dumbledore said, with a twinkle in his eyes

With that, Salvius turned around and left to take a walk in the halls of Hogwarts.


End file.
